What's the Difference Between Drip Bag Coffee and Instant Coffee? How is Drip Bag Coffee Made? What Are the Key Considerations for Water Temperature and Brewing Methods?

The popularity of drip bag coffee far exceeds our imagination. Due to its convenience, it can be taken anywhere to make and enjoy coffee! However, while the drip bag itself has become widespread, some people still have slight misconceptions about how to use it properly.

It's not that drip bag coffee can only be brewed using traditional methods, but rather that certain brewing methods can negatively affect our drinking experience! Therefore, today let's take a fresh look at what exactly drip bag coffee is!

What is Drip Bag Coffee?

Drip bag coffee is coffee brewed from a convenient coffee packet invented by the Japanese. Since this coffee packet has small paper-like "ears" on both sides that can hang on a cup, people affectionately call it a "drip bag coffee packet," and the coffee brewed with it is called "drip bag coffee"!

The design concept of drip bag coffee originates from string tea bags (tea bags with hanging strings). However, if the coffee were designed exactly like tea bags, its versatility would be limited to just steeping (and the coffee flavor would be rather mediocre)!

So the inventor brainstormed, attempting to simulate the filter cup used in pour-over brewing, and finally succeeded! Using non-woven fabric as the material for the coffee packet effectively isolates the coffee grounds. One side of the non-woven fabric has a paper ear that can hook onto the cup. That's right - the original drip bags had a single "ear," allowing them to hang on the cup for drip-style brewing! However, during the brewing process, the "single-eared" coffee packets couldn't withstand the continuous weight of hot water being poured in. After several optimizations, the "double-eared" drip bag coffee packets we use today were born! Now, let's explore which brewing methods can negatively affect the drip bag coffee drinking experience!

Improper Brewing Methods

1. Steeping Directly Like a Tea Bag

Many friends mistakenly treat drip bag coffee packets as tea bags, not opening them and steeping them directly! What consequences does this have?

That's right - the resulting coffee tastes weak and has some woody, papery flavors! The reason for this is that although the material of the drip bag is the same as tea bags, its thickness differs. When not opened, we can only pour water around the edges of the drip bag, which means hot water takes a very long time to penetrate to the coffee grounds in the center! If steeping ends too early, you'll easily get a cup of bland coffee (more accurately, coffee-flavored water)! But even with extended steeping time, gradually cooling hot water struggles to extract the central coffee grounds sufficiently without stirring or movement;

(When steeping for 6 minutes, the central coffee grounds still have unwetted portions) Alternatively, before the central coffee grounds are fully extracted, the outer coffee grounds and the material taste of the drip bag will release completely first. We know that some soluble substances in coffee are best not extracted as they may carry bitterness, off-flavors, and other negative tastes. Combined with the papery taste of the drip bag, while not undrinkable, it's difficult to be enjoyable.

2. Brewing Drip Bags Like Instant Coffee

Many friends often treat drip bags as instant coffee, but in reality, drip bag coffee is completely different from instant coffee! Instant coffee is made by using drying technology to turn extracted coffee liquid into powder, which is why it can dissolve in hot water, essentially restoring it to coffee liquid.

But drip bags are different. The coffee particles in drip bags are directly ground from coffee beans and contain 70% insoluble substances, namely woody fibers. When we brew them like instant coffee, not to mention the taste, just having a mouthful of coffee grounds with every sip makes for a poor drinking experience.

3. Pouring Too Much Hot Water at Once

Hey! FrontStreet Coffee happens to have a vivid, old illustration!

Most friends use household kettles when brewing drip bag coffee, and it's easy to accidentally pour too much water at once, causing coffee grounds to overflow. The result is just like the image above - easily leading to the unpleasant experience of having coffee grounds in your mouth with every sip.

4. Using Too Short/Small Cups

FrontStreet Coffee has written quite a few articles about cups for drip bag coffee. When using shorter cups for brewing drip bags, the coffee simultaneously steeps during the brewing process, which can easily extract over-extracted bitter flavors.

How to Properly Brew Drip Bag Coffee

For the simplest and most conventional drip bag brewing methods, you can refer to the article "How to Simply Brew Drip Bag Coffee?" for detailed information. Here, FrontStreet Coffee will briefly share: basically choose a taller container to reduce the steeping extraction process; pour hot water in small amounts multiple times to prevent hot water from carrying coffee grounds over the edge; and select appropriate brewing water temperature and ratio~

But actually, whether it's drip-style brewing or steeping extraction, the preparation of drip bag coffee is definitely not limited to just one extraction method! However, while making it, it's best to avoid behaviors that produce negative experiences, because only then can we reduce unpleasant feelings when consuming coffee!

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